Wizard's Chess
by ApricotKisses
Summary: Ron and Hermoine stay at Hogwarts during one of the visits to Hogsmeade. What can they do to pass the time? Play Wizard's Chess of course! Ron/Hermoine. Written for and requested by a friend. Please read and review


Wizard's Chess  
Fifteen year old Hermoine Granger sat in the Gryffindor common room deeply engrossed in her one of her favorite books Hogwarts, A History. The noise and meaningless chatter seemed to go unnoticed as she turned the page, reading about Godric Gryffindor, the founder of the Gryffindor House. The other students in Gryffindor were getting ready to go to Hogsmeade, it was the second last trip before Christmas and Hermoine had wanted to pick up Ron and Harry's presents.  
  
Harry Potter was one of her best friends, he had untidy black hair and bright green eyes. After coming to the wizarding world, she heard about 'The Famous Harry Potter.' The boy who, as an infant, had been attacked by Lord Voldermort and survived with nothing more than a scar in the shape of a lightning bolt. She hadn't taken a liking to him after their first meet on the Hogwarts Express, but later become his friend. Rita Skeeter, a writer who twists the real version of a story into misleading articles, once wrote the article 'Harry Potter's Secret Heartache.' An article stating that Hermoine and Harry were a couple and that she was toying around with Viktor Krum, a world famous Quidditch seeker whom Hermoine went to the Yule Ball with. None of which was true.  
  
Ron Weasley was her other best friend. He had the fiery red hair the Weasley's were well known for, making him easy to recognize in a crowd full of people. Ron was often jealous of Harry, Ron had little money and felt insecure because his older brothers had accomplished a lot and he hadn't. Then there was Harry, who had inherited lots of money from his deceased parents and had large popularity because of the Voldermort incident. Viktor Krum was his favorite Quidditch player, but when Viktor was competing in The Triwizard Tournament against Harry, he got angry at Hermoine for going with him, claiming she was fraternizing with the enemy. Ron had seemed jealous of Viktor Krum at the Yule Ball, where Hermoine was his date.  
  
Madame Pomfrey, the nurse at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, was convinced Hermoine was coming down with a cold earlier in the week. She made sure that Hermoine wasn't to go to Hogsmeade that weekend. So Hermoine sat there, now reading about Helga Hufflepuff, the founder of the Hufflepuff House.  
  
"Get your stuff on Moine. We're leaving any minute now." Hermoine looked up. It was Ron, who as he spoke was putting his scarf around his neck . Since all the scarves were red and gold, their house colors, Ron and Hermoine often argued with each other over which scarf belonged to whom.  
  
"I'm not going to Hogsmeade today, Madame Pomfrey thinks I have a cold." She told him, closing her book.  
  
Harry, who had walked up beside Ron, spoke up. "Funny, you look fine."  
"I am fine, but Madame Pomfrey doesn't seem to think so."  
  
Hermoine was about to speak up when Professor McGonagall entered the common room. All the students went silent and turned their attention to her.  
  
"We are leaving to Hogsmeade in a matter of minutes and I expect all of you are ready to leave, now if you'll follow me." The portrait of the fat lady swung open and Professor McGonagall exited the common room, students following behind her.  
  
"Go on, I don't want you to miss going to Hogsmeade because of me." She smiled, opening the book again to continue reading.  
  
"See you later Hermoine." Harry said, rushing to the portrait. He walked out of the common room and told the fat lady that Ron was still coming and to wait for him.  
  
"I'm not staying open all day." Came her annoyed voice. The people in the picture frames at Hogwarts talked and often went to visit people in other pictures.  
  
They both smiled. "I'll bring you back a bottle of Butterbeer." He said. She nodded and told him to go ahead before the fat lady in the portrait got any angrier.  
  
Hermoine returned to Hogwarts, A History. She wasn't completely alone in the common room. The first and second years weren't yet allowed to visit Hogsmeade on weekends, Denis Creevey, Colin's younger brother, who was in his second, was doing his Divination homework and Amy Avellen , another second year Hermoine talked to sometime, was heading for the library.  
  
A few minutes later the portrait hole opened again, two people entered. One was sneezing like crazy and the other person was talking.  
  
"I am sorry Ron, but you can not go to 'Ogsmeade if iz not feeling well." That voice belonged to Fleur Delacour. Fleur was part veela. She was a former Beaxbatons student and competed with Harry in the Triwizard Tournament the year before. Fleur had gotten a job at Hogwarts and her English was slowly improving.  
  
"I.I ." Ron broke into a fit of sneezes. "I'm fine." He managed to say in between sniffles.  
  
"You iz not fine. You are not going to Hogsmeade dis weekend." She exited the common room.  
  
Hermoine passed Ron the box of tissues Neville had given her, the interesting thing about the tissue box was that it could refill itself a number of times before finally running out. Ron grabbed a tissue and sneezed again.  
  
"You were fine when you left here five minutes ago." She put her book on a table and grabbed her wand and said a few words, the sneezing slowed to one every few minutes before it quit fully.  
  
"Thanks." He said sitting in the chair beside her. "Malfoy was picking on Ginny and I raised my wand and so did he, sparks flew out of his wand and," Ron sneezed again. "He put a sneezing spell on me and Professor McGonagall thought I was sick so she sent me back to the common room."  
  
"That makes two of us." Crookshanks jumped up on Hermoine's lap and started to purr.  
  
"So what are we going to do?" Ron asked. "We can's just sit around here all bloody day."  
  
Hermoine frowned at his choice of language but decided not to comment.  
  
They looked at each other, not knowing what to do next. Hermoine had planned to read and doing her Potions homework for Professor Snape that afternoon while her friends went to Hogsmeade. Neither of them knew how to spend this afternoon.  
  
"I have an idea." Ron jumped up so quickly Crookshanks got startled. "Come on." He gestured Hermoine up the staircase that would lead them to the boy's and girl's dormitories. She picked up Crookshanks and placed him on the ground, and followed Ron.  
  
Ron lead her to the room that he shared with Harry, Seamus Finnigin, and Dean Thomas. Hermoine stood at the door while Ron reached under his own bed in search of something.  
  
"There it is." He sounded almost triumphant to Hermoine, sounding as if had just found ten thousand Galleons.  
He pulled it out from under the bed. It looked sort of odd to Hermoine, it was a dirty wooden box, she wondered why Ron would have been so happy about it. He grabbed his wand and said something Hermoine couldn't quite make out and the box vanished revealing a Wizard's Chess Set.  
  
Now, Hermoine wasn't too big on chess, but she knew this particular set was amazing . For starters, it was golden and the pieces looked like they had been overdone with detail. "Where did you get that?" She asked.  
  
"In Diagon Alley." He said admiring it himself. "Cost me a couple Galleons this one here."  
  
Ron placed it in front of himself and looked at the empty spot across from him then up at Hermoine. "How about a game of Wizard's Chess?"  
  
Hesitantly Hermoine moved forward. She decided that she had no better way to spend the afternoon and sat across from him.  
  
"Do you know how to play?" Ron asked. He gave directions and the pawn moved two spots.  
  
"Of course." She told him then gave directions to a pawn and it started to move. "They have Chess for Muggles too you know?"  
  
Ron took his turn and stared at her in disbelief.  
  
"It's true. Except the pieces don't move by themselves, you have to do it all by hand." Hermoine took her move and made her pawn destroy the first pawn he had sent out. "And the pieces don't destroy each other." She told him.  
  
"Sound boring." Over the next few minutes Hermoine had lost five more pieces. Ron had noticed she was getting a little more competitive than ever. He had an idea. "Want to put a little wager on the game." He said with a sly smile. Since he was winning he might be make a bet with Hermoine and get her to do his homework.  
  
"You're just saying that because you're winning." She said. But maybe she had an idea of her own because a minute later she matched his sly smile. "Homework. Galleons. What exactly do you have in mind.?"  
Ron paused, taking a second to think of what he would lose to Hermoine if she pulled through and won. "Suggest something when you lose at the game and I'll see if I approve." Ron said. That gave him the whole game to think of a prize from himself.  
  
Hermoine didn't have anything against it and replied with, "What makes you think I'm going to lose." Again she commanded one of her pieces in the perfect position for Ron to easily destroy without even noticing it. And that's exactly what he did, Hermoine frowned as she watched another one of her pieces get crushed.  
  
"What makes you think you're going to win?"  
  
A few minutes later Hermoine was still losing and getting more competitive than she had ever been, Ron , however was in the lead and it was causing Hermoine to get jealous. Ron had decided that Hermoine would do his Divination homework for a week, a class she hated and wouldn't enjoy doing.  
  
"Check." Hermoine felt proud of herself for saying that word, because she never thought she could've done that.  
  
That's impossible. Ron thought. Then a smile crept to his lips. The smile broke when he commanded on of the few pieces on the board but it was worth it. "Checkmate." He said simply as his boyish grin returned.  
  
Hermoine frowned and looked at Ron and then back at the chess board.  
  
Ron was about to tell her about the Divination homework she would have to do when she leaned over kissing him, not on the cheek like she had Harry, but on the lips. It was a soft kiss, nothing Ron had ever experienced before compared to it. The warmth, the taste, he wished the moment would never end. But sadly enough, it had ended. "You win." She whispered. With that, she left the dormitory.  
  
Ron sat there, taking in the last moment. Unable to move for the next few minutes, he decided he wouldn't tell Harry and that he wouldn't let that kiss effect his friendship with Hermoine, but even he knew it wouldn't be the same.  
~*~  
The dormitory was still dark when Ron awoke. It was Christmas and he still hadn't told Harry what happened between him and Hermoine the weekend they didn't go to Hogsmeade and he didn't intend to. He lifted himself into a sitting position. It was five in the morning and He couldn't sleep anymore.  
  
Quietly he made his way down to the common room where he found Hermoine sitting in one of the chairs. Things weren't exactly normal with them but it was pretty close. Hermoine had decided to stay at Hogwarts that Christmas.  
  
"Can't sleep?" She asked.  
  
Ron nodded. "How long have you been up."  
  
"Not long." She replied.  
  
"You look cold." He said, trying to find something to say.  
  
"I am." Hermoine replied, avoiding eye contact.  
  
"I have an idea." He ran back up to the dormitory as quietly as he could.  
  
Hermoine frowned it was one of his ideas that caused awkwardness between them. Ron returned holding a maroon sweater he passed it to her. " You can have it," Hermoine recognized it as the sweater Mrs. Weasley knitted for Ron the previous Christmas. "Mum makes me one every year and that one's a bit small."  
  
She pulled the sweater over her head. It was comfortable and brought warmth to her cold body. "Now what?"  
  
"We could open presents." Ron suggested.  
  
"Don't you think we should wait for Harry?"  
  
"Yeah you're right." He hated it when she was right.  
"We could go to the kitchens and get a snack." Hermoine suggested. Ron decided that it was a better idea than his and they climbed out of the portrait hole and headed for the kitchens. The corridors were empty and cold, even in Ron's sweater Hermoine was freezing.  
  
They made their way to the kitchens in silence. When they entered, the kitchen was full of House Elves and it was warm from all the cooking.  
  
"Hermony and wheezy." Dobby called out when they entered. Dobby was a scrawny elf dressed like all the other elves except for a pair of mismatched socks that dressed his feet, he had large green eyes and a pencil like nose. "Where is Harry Potter?" A large grin spread across his face when he said the name.  
  
"Sleeping." Hermoine replied.  
  
"Think we can get some." Ron looked at Hermoine, not knowing what to ask for.  
  
"Hot chocolate." She said the first thing that came to mind.  
  
"Yes, yes." Dobby hurried to get the hot chocolate.  
  
A minute later Dobby returned with two cups, each filled with hot chocolate.  
  
"Thanks Dobby." Ron and Hermoine laughed once they realized they spoke in unison.  
  
"You is welcome." Dobby said. "Happy Christmas." He called out before the portrait hole closed, and Ron and Hermoine called out the same thing.  
  
"So what'll we do til the others wake up?" Ron asked, then took a drink out of his cup.  
  
A small smiled formed on her lips. "How about a game of Wizard's Chess?"  
~*~  
Drop a note and tell me what you think.  
  
I'm sorry If you didn't like it, It's my first Harry Potter story and it was a request. So sorry if I did anything wrong or made them jump out of character. This was written for and requested by Amy.  
  
Disclaimer: I own nothing in part of Harry Potter, characters belong to J.K Rowling 


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